


Take care of him

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: I hope this did you justice, M/M, This is the shortest amount of people I've ever included in a fic, even though it is delayed, happy birthday Shannon, this was a request from "Helen", who wanted Nico and Will friends with Clarisse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 07:17:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Nico would do anything to protect the one he loves. He HAS done everything he can, so far. Nico di Angelo has loved Will Solace, and that whole time, he has promsied to protect him. And everyone can see that.But there are still some people who doubt this and want reassurance.





	Take care of him

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt/request from AO3 user @Helen, who wanted a friendship between these three. I hope this is ok and if you are reading this now, I'm sorry that it took so long but I hope I did it justice. Happy Birthday to my beautiful friend Shannon x Enjoy the fic x

Nico was ready to kill a man.

Fatigue gnawed at his bones and the pull of irritation was hard to ignore. This morning, he was tasked to teach the younger campers sword fighting, trying to keep his temper when kids gave him cheek and questioned his teachings.

Nico wondered how much trouble he would get in for summoning skeletons and scaring the kid.

Will had asked him to help in the infirmary, running around and fetching bandages. Almost as soon as he said goodbye to Will and left the infirmary, he got into a fight with some  _stronzo_ who taunted him _,_ making his blood boil. He was at the end of his tether, all the other campers knew it and left him alone. Nico couldn’t go to his cabin, to fume in the comfortable silent darkness because Hazel was there, visiting with Frank and Reyna.

Nico just wanted to be alone. After stalking towards the training arena, he was now taking his anger and stress of the turbulent morning out on a training dummy.

A hand landed heavily on his shoulder and he froze, his swinging sword slowing and falling flat. Sweat dripped down his face, staining his shirt. Panting like a dog and adrenalin pumping through his veins, electric and thick, as he prepared himself for a fair-dinkum fight.  The hand on his shoulder didn’t move, so Nico grabbed it and twisted it, spinning around and placing his thumbs in the middle of the palm and pushed. Looking up through his hair, he saw who it was and hastily drooped their hand, taking a few steps back with his arms up.

“Sorry Clarisse,” He apologised, the last of his adrenaline draining from his body. “Gods, you scared the crap out of me. Is everything ok?”

Clarisse didn’t take any steps towards Nico. In fact, she looked a little awkward. She was fiddling with the handle of her dagger, but not in a menacing way. Nico couldn’t be more confused. “Uhhh Clarisse?” He prompted.

Clarisse had her fingers tugging at the back of her hair. Sighing, Clarisse turned her back on Nico. “Follow me.” She called over her shoulder.

Tentatively, Nico slid his sword back into its place on his belt and slowly followed her. Still apprehensive from his tantrum from before, the other campers we’re still leaving him be, giving him a wide berth as he made his way after the daughter of Ares. Nico didn’t feel the least bit sorry.

He found Clarisse sitting on Half-Blood Hill, leaning against Thalia’s pine-tree and overlooking the camp.  Nico slowly sat down beside her, crossing his legs and putting his hands in his lap. He didn’t want to break the non-volatile silence they had, but he really wanted to know what they were doing up here.

“What do you think of Will?” She asked, and Nico was taken aback.

“Ummm…” The words he wanted to use to describe the shining star in his unending darkness, his happiness incarnate, turned to ash on his tongue, making him unable to find the words. “I love him. Why?”

Clarisse didn’t answer, instead stared out toward Cabin 7, eyes darting towards the infirmary. Needless to say, Nico felt a little sceptical. “Listen, Clarisse, did you just bring me up here to ask me what I thought of my boyfriend or did you have something important to tell me? Because if that’s all, I have other things to do.”

Clarisse snorted but didn’t move her eyes away from Apollo’s cabin. “Yeah, like beating the crap out of a dummy.” Her voice didn’t have any of the usual bite, the usual gruffness that accompanied the usual sarcasm. “I’m only asking because I care about him.”

“Why would you care about Will?” Nico questioned, peering out at the camp, spying Will coming out of the infirmary and smiling to himself.

Clarisse sighed, reaching up and fiddling with the beads on her necklace. Nico hadn’t realised that she had almost the same number of beads as Will, and Nico wondered if they had been friends in those years alone. “I’ve known him for a very long time. Almost as long as I’ve been at camp. I just want to make sure that nothing’s wrong.”

Nico couldn’t understand why Clarisse would care. Especially about Will. “What’s Will got to do with anything?”

Gnawing at her lip, Clarisse turned from the camp to look intently at Nico. Her stare made him a little uncomfortable, making meeting her gaze difficult. “I will not let anything happen to Will Solace.” She alleged, gently putting her hand on Nico’s knee, making him flinch. “Gentle” and “caring” were not common words used to describe Clarisse or her actions, and Nico was surprised that they were being targeted towards him and Will. “And that includes making sure that he is taken care of.”

“Why wouldn’t I take care of him?”

Clarisse looked down. “Will has had some shit happen to him. Michael died, during the battle of Manhattan, and then he was made head councillor of his cabin. He’s the best healer in the camp, and he’s had to…” Her voice trailed off, catching in her throat. “He’s only 15.” She whispered sadly, taking in a breath.

Nico wanted to comment that he was 14 and knew how Will felt, but he didn’t want to ruin what he had with Clarisse. “So you wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to hurt Will?” He asked instead.

“No,” she amended, smiling. Like this, Nico thought she looked almost… nice? The years of battle and hardship had drained from her features and the fiery anger had vanished from her eyes. Nico didn’t usually care about looks, but right now, he thought Clarisse was rather beautiful. “I wanted to make sure you loved him enough to help me look after him and not just leave him alone.”

Nico sighed, holding back a smile. “Clarisse, I’m not going to let anything happen to Will. I swear on the River Styx. I love him too much to hurt him. Why do you think I helped him out in the infirmary? Why do you think he slept in my cabin when that nymph had a miscarriage? I wouldn’t let anything happen to him if there is something I can do to fix it.”

Nodding, Clarisse put her hand out with a grin. Not a violent, conniving grin, but a relaxed one. Nico liked that one better. He thrust his hand out to meet hers, and they shook.

A glowing window of rainbow light appeared next to Nico, and without thinking he quickly fished around inside his pockets for a drachma to throw into the Iris Message.

Will’s smiling face appeared in the window and he waved. “Hey Neeks,” Will laughed, pushing his hair back away from his face. “What are you doing on Half-Blood Hill?” Catching sight of Clarisse, Will tilted his head. “Hey Clarisse, is everything going on?”

“Everything is fine.” Nico assured, “We were just coming back to camp now. I’ll meet you at your cabin?”

Will’s grin grew “See you soon!” and the Iris Message faded.

Nico stood. “We should probably get back down there. You coming?” He asked Clarisse, thrusting out his hand to help her up. She looked at it before she took it, and he hefted her to her feet.

They walked back down towards the camp, but as they made it over the lake, the demigod from before came up beside them and shoved Nico in the shoulder. Nico regained his balance and just kept walking, trying to ignore him. He was with a group of campers, and they all started taunting him. Nico placed his hand on his scabbard as he saw the demigod approach him again, but the daughter of Ares stood between them.

“Get lost punk,” she growled, lip curling. The anger was back on her face, and Nico thought that this time, it was justified. “Or I’ll beat your ass ten days ‘till Sunday.”  

The campers scattered, and they continued their silent walk back to camp.

When Nico spied Will out the front of the Apollo cabin, he said goodbye to Clarisse and went to meet him. Clarisse’s hand on his shoulder again stopped him, and he turned to face her.

She was smiling. “Take care of him.” She whispered, dropping her hand.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He promised. He walked over to Will and after embracing him, Will walked into his cabin, leaving the door open for Nico. Before Nico walked inside, he turned and gave a thumbs up to the daughter of Ares and her heart swelled knowing that her friend was in good hands.


End file.
